Aerosol containers containing a wide variety of active components or contents under pressure such as insect repellents, insecticides, hair sprays, creams or foams and so on have been marketed widely for household, commercial and industrial purposes.
In conventional aerosol containers, the outlet is normally a tubular valve stem element springably biased into a closed position which, when depressed into the body of the container opens the valve and releases the contents which are held under pressure. When the applied force at the valve stem is removed, the valve stem returns to its closed position simultaneously stopping the outward flow of the pressurized contents of the container. In one type of aerosol containers, a spray actuator, or button, is fitted directly over the valve stem such that when the actuator is depressed the valve stem is simultaneously depressed or tilted against a spring bias causing the contents of the container to be released via an outlet in the actuator. Release of the pressure at the actuator returns the valve stem to its equilibrium position. Generally, to operate the actuator an enclosing protective cover has to be removed to expose the actuator. Such covers which are then placed back over the button and valve stem, can often be misplaced or discarded by the end-users.
In another type of aerosol containers, the cap is designed with the actuator as part of its structure whereby the release of the pressurized contents is done by depressing a trigger which is in turn part of the actuator structure. The contents of the aerosol container is ejected from the actuator and exits through a space or orifice in the cap. This is commonly termed a spray-through cap. In this type of aerosol container the trigger is not protected from accidental pressing of the cap by the user. Although in this type of cap, the user is more protected from overspray by the cap, the inconvenience of such devices lies in the accidental actuation of the trigger and inadvertent spraying of the contents is present.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,722 to Clark et al. discloses a spray head for aerosol or pump spray containers. Clark '722 includes an intricate base portion having a fluid outlet passageway integral with the base and mounted on the base via a living hinge. The top or button of Clark '722 includes a flexible member which is also integral with and mounted via a living hinge with a lower portion of the top. The flexible member flexes relative to the top when depressed by a user's finger, and when appropriately rotationally aligned with the base portion causes movement of the passageway on the base to actuate a valve in the aerosol container. The drawback to Clark is in the assembly of the actuator, in particular after molding the separate pieces the top can only be engaged with the base in one direction and that the engagement of the parts must be performed carefully so as to correctly align the mating parts of the separate base and top. Thus, the challenging assembly of this product can cause manufacturing problems and also raises the cost of each actuator.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/792,074 to Yerby et al. is similar to Clark '722 in that the base portion of the actuator includes the fluid outlet passage formed integrally therewith and is also an intricate part to mold especially in light of the numerous windows and passages formed through the different sidewalls of the base portion. These windows lead to a relatively complicated mold with numerous shut-offs, or endpoints which must match up when the molds are closed. Any misalignment of the molds leads to flashing, i.e. extra material at the mold junction which can effect the operation of the actuator and lead to substantial increase in manufacturing costs if it must be removed from the part after molding. Also, the top can only be engaged with the base portion in one direction and must be specifically aligned so as to properly align the top portion with the base portion.
It is therefore desirable to provide an aerosol spray actuator and a method of making the actuator which is capable of overcoming these previously known deficiencies.